28 November, Vitebsk /Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. Open Joint Stock Company "Vitebsk Oil Extraction Plant" (Vitebsk OEP) has completed the construction of an elevator complex with a capacity of 20 thousand tons, the enterprise director Alexander Mareyko informed a BELTA correspondent. The necessity of implementing this investment project was driven by the insufficient capacity of the existing elevator, which could only accommodate 15 thousand tons of raw materials. The plant stored the remaining oilseeds for processing at other enterprises in the region and the republic, which increased production costs for raw material delivery. For 10 months of the current year, investments in the fixed capital of Vitebsk OEP amounted to Br23.7 billion. Construction was carried out in accordance with the state program for the development of the oil and fat industry of Belarus for 2011-2015. This program also provides for the modernisation of the preparatory, pressing, and filtration departments by 2015, with an increase in oilseed processing capacity to 400 tons per day. "These are major projects, the implementation of which will allow us to speak about the creation of new production facilities," the head emphasised. Thanks to the implementation of the development program for the oil and fat industry for 2007-2010, the enterprise also underwent phased reconstruction: an extraction shop, its own boiler house, and a pressing unit were commissioned. These works allowed the plant to increase the processing capacity of rapeseed oilseeds from 250 to 300 tons per day. Thus, the OEP processes over 90 thousand tons of oilseeds annually. OJSC "Vitebsk Oil Extraction Plant" is part of the "Belgospishcheprom" concern. The plant is a highly specialised enterprise in Belarus for the production of vegetable oils using the progressive extraction method. Vitebsk OEP is a strategic supplier for leading enterprises in the oil and fat industry. The plant's share in the total volume of vegetable oil production by enterprises of the republic is about 30%. This year, the enterprise is fully supplied with raw materials.